Project and content management for Contemporary Authors volumes
WORK TITLE: House of McQueen
WORK NOTES:
PSEUDONYM(S):
BIRTHDATE: 1968
WEBSITE: http://valeriewallace.net/
CITY: Chicago
STATE: IL
COUNTRY: United States
NATIONALITY: American
RESEARCHER NOTES:
LC control no.: n 2017049708
LCCN Permalink: https://lccn.loc.gov/n2017049708
HEADING: Wallace, Valerie, 1968-
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100 1_ |a Wallace, Valerie, |d 1968-
670 __ |a House of McQueen, 2018: |b ECIP t.p. (Valerie Wallace) data view (Valerie Martt Wallace, birth date: 8-18-1968)
PERSONAL
Born August 18, 1968.
ADDRESS
CAREER
Author. Harold Washington College, lecturer; Virtue, Happiness, & the Meaning of Life, University of Chicago, associate director.
MEMBER:Afghan Women’s Writing Program (advisory board).
AWARDS:Illinois Arts Council Literary Award; Atty Award, Margaret Atwood, 2012; San Miguel Writers’ Conference Poetry Prize, 2012; Great Lakes Retreat Award, Midwest Writing Center, 2013; Intro Prize, Four Way Books, 2016, for House of McQueen; Writers in the Heartland fellow; Ragdale Foundation fellow; Squaw Valley Community of Writers fellow; Kimmel-Harding-Nelson Center for the Art fellow; Vermont Studio Center fellow; grants from Illinois Arts Council, Barbara Deming Money for Women, and Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs and Special Events, 2017.
WRITINGS
RHINO Poetry, webmaster and associate editor, 2009-2016.
Contributor to periodicals, including Watershed Review, Ars Poetica, Waccamaw Journal, Borderlines, Valparaiso Poetry Review, Convergence, Unsplendid, Court Green, Tupelo Quarterly, Drumvoices Revue, TINGE Magazine, Eleven Eleven, Tinderbox, Her Mark/Woman Made Gallery Date Book, Ilanot Review, jmww, Found Poetry Review, Kettle Blue Review, Santa Clara Review, Maize, Rust+Moth Journal, Margie, Ricochet Review, Mid-American Poetry Review, Rhino Magazine, Naugatuck River Review, Potomac Review, and Pool.
Also contributor to anthologies, including Sculptures: The Great Columns of Joliet and A Face to Meet the Faces: An Anthology of Contemporary Persona Poetry.
SIDELIGHTS
Valerie Wallace has become most well known for her contributions to the poetry world, as well as to numerous literary magazines. She has been part of the Afghan Women’s Writing Program, for which she served on their advisory board. She also worked under RHINO Poetry as its webmaster and associate editor. Her work has appeared in numerous periodicals, including Watershed Review, Ars Poetica, Waccamaw Journal, Borderlines, Valparaiso Poetry Review, and Convergence, among many others. She has also been featured in two anthologies: Sculptures: The Great Columns of Joliet and A Face to Meet the Faces: An Anthology of Contemporary Persona Poetry. Wallace’s work has received numerous accolades, including grants from Writers in the Heartland, Barbara Deming Money for Women, and Squaw Valley Community of Writers, as well as an Atty Award and San Miguel Writers’ Conference Poetry Award.
In addition to her writing, Wallace also devotes part of her professional pursuits to teaching. She is aligned with the University of Chicago—or, more specifically, their Virtue, Happiness, & the Meaning of Life project—as an assistant director. Wallace has published her own books as well, including a chapbook titled The Dictators’ Guide to Good Housekeeping.
House of McQueen is Wallace’s second published work. In the year 2016, the book received the Intro Prize, granted by Vievee Francis from Four Way Books. The book is a collection of poetry, all of which centers on the life and work of Alexander McQueen. Wallace performed ample research in the act of creating her poems, all for the sake of capturing McQueen’s voice and illustrating his point of view regarding his creative process. In the process, Wallace presents the notion that McQueen’s motives for creating his work differs substantially from public opinions regarding his methods. This allows Wallace to cast a different light on the mindset of McQueen, offering an alternate viewpoint on the creator as a person as well as his body of creations. Wallace not only illustrates the viewpoint of McQueen, but also those he was close to. Some of the poems featured in the book come from the points of view of McQueen’s students and loved ones—and even the tools he used to create his clothing. By combining all of these different standpoints, Wallace is able to paint a broad picture of McQueen’s life and creations. A reviewer in Publishers Weekly remarked: “Sensual, devastating, and lithe as silk, Wallace’s work is a fitting tribute to McQueen’s dynamic yet tragic life.”
BIOCRIT
PERIODICALS
Publishers Weekly, February 19, 2018, review of House of McQueen, p. 52.
ONLINE
Academy of American Poets, https://www.poets.org/ (June 11, 2018), author profile.
Poetry Foundation, https://www.poetryfoundation.org/ (June 11, 2018), author profile.
Poets & Writers, https://www.pw.org/ (June 11, 2018), author profile.
Valerie Wallace website, http://valeriewallace.net (June 11, 2018), author profile.
Chicago, IL
E-mail:
valeriemw@gmail.com
AUTHOR'S BIO
Valerie Wallace is the author of "House of McQueen", which was selected by Vievee Francis for the Four Way Books 2016 Intro Prize (March 2018), and the chapbook "The Dictators' Guide to Good Housekeeping" (2011, Dancing Girl Press). Valerie was an associate editor and the webmaster with RHINO Poetry from 2009-2016, and advisory board member of the Afghan Women's Writing Program. She won the 2012 San Miguel Writers' Conference Poetry Prize and her work was chosen by Margaret Atwood for the 2012 Atty Award.
PUBLICATIONS AND PRIZES
Books:
House of McQueen (Four Way Books, 2018)
Anthologies:
A Face to Meet the Faces: An Anthology of Contemporary Persona Poetry (University of Akron Press, 2012), Sculptures: The Great Columns of Joliet (University of Illinois Press, 2006)
Journals:
Ars Poetica, Borderlines, Convergence, Court Green, Drumvoices Revue, Eleven Eleven, Her Mark/Woman Made Gallery Date Book, jmww, Kettle Blue Review, Maize, Margie, Mid-American Poetry Review, Naugatuck River Review, Pool, Potomac Review, Rhino Magazine, Ricochet Review, Rust+Moth Journal, Santa Clara Review, The Found Poetry Review, The Ilanot Review, Tinderbox, TINGE Magazine, Tupelo Quarterly, Unsplendid, Valparaiso Poetry Review, Waccamaw Journal, Watershed Review
Chapbook:
The Dictators' Guide to Good Housekeeping (Dancing Girl Press, 2011)
Prizes Won:
2017 Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs and Special Events Grant; 2016 Four Way Books Intro Prize; 2013 Midwest Writing Center Great Lakes Retreat Award; 2012 San Miguel Writers' Conference Poetry Award; 2012 Atty Award; Illinois Arts Council Literary Award. Grants: Barbara Deming Money for Women, Illinois Arts Council Artist Grants. Fellowships: Ragdale Foundation, Vermont Studio Center, Kimmel-Harding-Nelson Center for the Arts, Squaw Valley Community of Writers, Writers in the Heartland. Broadsides: Highland Park Poetry That Moves, February 2010
REVIEWS, RECORDINGS, AND INTERVIEWS
Featured Poet Series: Q&A with Valerie Wallace (Kettle Blue Review)
Valerie Wallace (valeriewallace.net)
MORE INFORMATION
Listed as:
Poet
Gives readings:
Yes
Travels for readings:
Yes
Identifies as:
Feminist
Prefers to work with:
Any
Fluent in:
English
Raised in:
California, Colorado, South Dakota, Utah
Valerie Wallace is the author of House of McQueen, selected by Vievee Francis for the 2016 Four Way Books Intro Prize (Spring 2018), and the chapbook The Dictators’ Guide to Good Housekeeping. Margaret Atwood chose 10 of her poems for the Atty Award and she has received an Illinois Arts Council Literary Award and the San Miguel Writers’ Conference Poetry Award. She is the recipient of grants from the Illinois Arts Council, the City of Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs and Special Events, the Barbara Deming Fund for Women, and fellowships from Midwest Writers, Ragdale Foundation, Squaw Valley Community of Writers, Vermont Studio Center, Writers in the Heartland, and Kimmel Harding Nelson Center for the Arts.
Valerie lives in Chicago, where she teaches with the City Colleges of Chicago, the Newberry Library, gives private workshops, and is Assistant Director, Communications, for the project Virtue, Happiness, & the Meaning of Life at the University of Chicago. She was an associate editor and the webmaster with RHINO from 2010-2016 and a mentor with the Afghan Women’s Writing Project for 5 years.
Photos, book trailer, brief bio
Press release
Click here for information and to donate to the Hillary Gravendyk Scholarship for Squaw Valley Community of Writers.
Valerie Wallace is the author of House of McQueen (Four Way Books, 2018). She is associate director, communications, for the project Virtue, Happiness, & the Meaning of Life at the University of Chicago and a lecturer at Harold Washington College. She lives in Chicago, Illinois.
Valerie Wallace is the author of House of McQueen (Four Way Books, forthcoming 2018), which was selected by Vievee Francis for the 2016 Intro Prize, and the chapbook The Dictators' Guide to Good Housekeeping (Dancing Girl Press, 2011). She served as an associate editor and the webmaster for RHINO Poetry from 2009 to 2016, and as an advisory board member of the Afghan Women's Writing Program. She won the 2012 San Miguel Writers' Conference Poetry Prize, and her work was chosen by Margaret Atwood for the 2012 Atty Award.
House of McQueen
Publishers Weekly.
265.8 (Feb. 19, 2018): p52.
COPYRIGHT 2018 PWxyz, LLC
http://www.publishersweekly.com/
Full Text:
* House of McQueen
Valerie Wallace. FourWay, $15.95 trade paper
(72p) ISBN 978-1-945588-11-2
Wallace conducts a literary seance in her transcendent debut, serving as a scholar of and medium for the late iconic fashion designer Alexander
McQueen (1969-2010). Devising her poems using an extensive array of sources, Wallace manages to encapsulate the "monstrous and magical"
visions that defined McQueen's oeuvre. Her biographical thesis, so to speak, can be seen in lines written from the designer's perspective: "People
say I do it for the shock value/1 just like exploring the sinister side of life." Wallace's expert distillation of McQueen's life and words offers
valuable insight on his whimsical and dark-minded vision. Perhaps the most astonishing aspect of Wallace's lyrical tapestry is the way in which
she cultivates various voices and narratives; by quoting McQueen's friends and disciples, including such notable figures as Naomi Campbell and
Kate Moss, readers hear through them the fashion industry legend's call to "Perform my clothes like you're devastated." There are also witty
moments, as when Wallace imagines McQueen's scissors whispering in his ear, "It's only cloth." Wallace's language locates a maelstrom of
emotional and spiritual energy at the core of McQueen's evocative designs. Sensual, devastating, and lithe as silk, Wallace's work is a fitting
tribute to McQueen's dynamic yet tragic life. (Mar.)
Source Citation (MLA 8th
Edition)
"House of McQueen." Publishers Weekly, 19 Feb. 2018, p. 52. General OneFile, http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/A529357503/ITOF?
u=schlager&sid=ITOF&xid=68916c26. Accessed 4 June 2018.
Gale Document Number: GALE|A529357503